first bird of the season.....

Had to be rescued from the stove this morning. I stayed home from work today (under the weather), and wife dragged me out of bed this morning to the scratching sounds of a bird in the stovepipe.....

Turns out a starling thought it'd be a good spot for a nest.......but he was wrong. Normally, I'd close the stove down for the season, but with more cold weather on tap the next several days, I'll b building more fires, and cant close it yet. So for a temporary fix, I put the brush up the pipe (right to the cap), closed the clean-out up, and put a note in the firebox that says "TAKE BRUSH OUT!!"

Crows are very bright. They have a guard crow, and talk with each other, pass messages around. Have quite a large vocabulary. If you keep one as a pet, and slit it's tongue, it can talk like a parrot. Read a pretty amazing book about crows many years ago. Loaned it to a friend and never saw it again. Have often wished I still had the book.

My Dad used to shoot clay pigeons, both over LISound, and off our property here. The crows totally ignored him both places, as they quickly learned he wasn't shooting at them.

Their cousin the Raven my dog cannot abide. One croak from the resident Raven and he is tearing off after it. Chases it all through the woods, Raven croaking and dog frantic. I sometimes wonder if it's a game for the raven.

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A few years ago my wife and I were in the hot tub watching a squirrel with a nut or some sort of food running just a few feet in front of a crow who kept hopping behind him at a respectful distance. The squirrel kept stopping and looking at the crow who would stop and wait. Finally, the squirrel stopped and buried the food item before running away. The crow waited a bit, looked around to make sure the squirrel wasn't coming back and then calmly hopped over to where the squirrel had buried the food and dug it up.

I recall when walking the old skidded trails and back roads when grouse hunting it seemedlike If the crows flew over and I raised the shotgun, they would swing way off to one side or the other over the treeline. Far enough away to be beyond shotgun range. I used to think I was imagining it but a friend recently described a documentary on crows - several experiments that were done which demonstrated how intelligent they really are. They learn who / what they can trust, and they teach their offspring. Pretty amazing. Too bad they won't STFU at 5:00 in the morning...

Osburn 2200
"I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess." [Red Green]
Careful with that axe, Eugene [Pink Floyd, "Relics"]

A few years ago went to my dads house and he just turned on the gas log fireplace when a flying squirl fell out and rolled under the couch. Thats a thrill ! Picked him up with gloves and tossed him out the door, wasn't there when I left so he must have woken back up.

6lb maul
HUSQUVARNA 460
BIS wood stove
and a weak back from about a week back
As the say in drivers ed "thems the breaks"
the worst 8 words you can ever hear: We're the government and we're here to help